EP0707405A2 - Automatic call distribution system with user definable logging and method therefor - Google Patents
Automatic call distribution system with user definable logging and method therefor Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- EP0707405A2 EP0707405A2 EP95114980A EP95114980A EP0707405A2 EP 0707405 A2 EP0707405 A2 EP 0707405A2 EP 95114980 A EP95114980 A EP 95114980A EP 95114980 A EP95114980 A EP 95114980A EP 0707405 A2 EP0707405 A2 EP 0707405A2
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- data
- automatic call
- distribution system
- incoming telephone
- telephone calls
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Granted
Links
Images
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
- H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
- H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
- H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
- H04M3/523—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing with call distribution or queueing
Definitions
- the present invention relates generally to an automatic call distribution system and, more particularly, to an automatic call distribution system and method wherein the user has the ability to define and modify the logging of operating data of the ACD system.
- ACD Automatic call distribution
- ACD systems are increasingly used by businesses to automatically route incoming customer calls to available agents.
- ACD systems generally include a multiport switch controlled by a central processing unit to interconnect external telephonic units of an external telephonic network with internal telephonic units.
- An example of such an ACD system is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5,140,611 issued to Jones et al. on August 18, 1992, entitled "Pulse Modulated Self-Clocking and Self-Synchronizing Data Transmission and Method for a Telephonic Communication Switching System".
- ACD systems provide for acquiring, processing and reporting information concerning different aspects of activity within the system.
- a data display terminal generates visual representations of the information. Based on this information, management and supervisory personnel are able to evaluate the call activity within the automatic call distributor and, if necessary, make changes for more efficient ACD system operation.
- Data is collected on each incoming call offered to the ACD system. This data consists of a log of events occurring in the ACD system over time for an incoming call. Typical logged data elements are receipt of call, call offered to an application, call presented to an agent group and call handled or abandoned. The data representing these data elements is then processed to generate reports for use by management or supervisory personnel.
- the data may be organized in any number of ways, such as by agent, telephone trunk, agent groups and the like.
- An operator of the system selectively adds data elements for which the automatic call distributor acquires data through a computer terminal.
- the collected data may be stored and displayed on a display unit of a data computer.
- the data may be displayed on a terminal display unit at the computer terminal.
- a printout of the data may also be obtained from a printer connected to the data computer.
- an automatic call distribution system for routing incoming telephone calls.
- the automatic call distribution system comprises a plurality of agent groups each of which is comprised of at least one agent for receiving the incoming telephone calls and a multiport switch for interconnecting the incoming telephone calls and the agent groups.
- a central processing unit controls the multiport switch to connect each of the incoming telephone calls to a selected one of the agent groups and acquires data at specified points during each of the incoming telephone calls.
- An operator of the system selectively adds data elements for which the central processing unit acquires data by means of a computer terminal.
- a data computer connected to the central processing unit includes a data display unit for displaying at least a portion of the data and a data input device for selectively formatting the data for display on the data display unit.
- a method for procuring data in an automatic call distribution system comprising the steps of: receiving a plurality of incoming telephone calls from external callers at the automatic call distribution system, the automatic call distribution system including a multiport switch; routing the plurality of incoming telephone calls through the multiport switch to a plurality of agents; selectively defining data elements which may occur during the routing of each of the incoming telephone calls in the automatic call distribution system; and acquiring data associated with the selectively defined data elements for each of the incoming telephone calls.
- An automatic call distribution (ACD) system 100 in accordance with the present invention comprises an automatic call distributor 102 for routing incoming telephone calls received from external telephonic units 104 via an external telephonic network 106 to a plurality of agent telephonic units 107.
- the automatic call distributor 102 may be any of a number of different call switching systems, or devices.
- the automatic call distributor 102 is connected to a data computer 108 comprising a data display unit 109, such as a conventional CRT, coupled to a data input device 110.
- the data computer 108 stores the data acquired by the automatic call distributor 102, selectively formats the data and displays the data received from the automatic call distributor 102 on the data display unit.
- the data input device 110 may comprise a conventional keyboard and a microprocessor-based computer circuit.
- a conventional printer 112 connected to the data computer 108 generates printed records of data received from the automatic call distributor 102.
- the automatic call distributor 102 has a multiport switch 114 for routing incoming telephone calls to selected ones of the agent telephonic units 107.
- the multiport switch 114 is controlled by a central processing unit (CPU) 116, or a suitable computer, having a memory 118 for processing data related to incoming telephone calls.
- the CPU 116 is appropriately programmed to route incoming telephone calls through the ACD system 100.
- the processing power of the CPU 116 is provided by a 32 bit Motorola 68030 microprocessor.
- An operator of the ACD system 100 adds additional data elements for which the CPU 116 collects data through one or more computer terminals 120.
- the computer terminal 120 includes a conventional terminal display unit 122, such as a CRT, and a terminal input device 124.
- the operator modifies the computer program implemented by the CPU 116 via the terminal input device 124, as discussed more fully below. It should be understood that the operator can also access the data stored in the data computer through the computer terminal 120.
- a data interface 126 provides communications between the CPU 116, the data computer 108 and the computer terminal 120.
- the structure and philosophy of the components of the ACD system 100 are well known in the art and will not be further discussed herein. Further, other configurations of the automatic call distributor 102 can be advantageously employed in the present invention.
- FIG. 2 A block diagram illustrating an exemplary routing scheme in the automatic call distributor 102 is shown in Fig. 2.
- Incoming telephone calls are received from the external telephonic network 106 over telephone trunks 200 which are grouped into trunk groups 1-S 204 and 206.
- a routing vector 202 or telescript, receives incoming telephone calls from the trunk groups 204 and 206. Based on user supplied statements, the routing vector 202 routes each of the external telephone calls to a selected one of applications 1-N 208, 210 and 212. The applications 208, 210 and 212 then direct each of the calls to one of the user defined application vectors 1-N 214, 216 and 218.
- a vector is one or more user defined statements or instructions in a computer program stored in the memory 118 and executed by the CPU 116 for routing incoming telephone calls.
- Application vectors 214, 216 and 218 route the calls from the applications 208, 210 and 212 to one or more of agent groups 1-N 220, 222 and 224 for handling by agents 1 through N.
- the call may be routed based on information supplied by the external telephonic network 106, such as a Dialed Number Identification Service which identifies the called number, or an Automatic Number Identification.
- the mechanisms for routing calls in an ACD system are well known in the art and will therefore not be further discussed herein.
- a main program 300 which is typically implemented in the C programming language, acquires information, or data, relating to specific events occurring in the automatic call distributor 102 for each incoming telephone call.
- a data element may be a count of call offered to an application, call offered to an agent group, call handled or abandoned and the like.
- the operator is unable to add additional data elements for which the main program 300 collects data.
- the present invention provides an operator with the flexibility to add data elements for which the main program 300 collects data.
- the main program 300 downloads collected data to a database 302.
- a data interface program 304 formats data transferred between the main program 300 and the database 302.
- the operator 306 can organize and format the data via a display program 308 for display either on the terminal display unit 122 or the data display unit 109.
- Instructions from the operator 306 are provided to the display program 308 through an operator interface 310.
- the operator 306 has the capability to add data elements for which the CPU 116 obtains information.
- the operator 306 adds data elements by modifying the main program 300 via the computer terminal 120.
- a pair of exemplary timelines 400 and 402 showing data elements for incoming telephone calls are shown in Fig. 4.
- common data elements (trunk seizure 404, offered to the application 406, queued to agent group 1 408 and call handled or abandoned 410) are recorded for each incoming telephone call.
- an incoming telephone call is queued to agent group 1.
- the CPU 116 detects that the telephone call has been queued to agent group 1 and generates data representative thereof. After a 5 second delay, if an agent does not answer the call, an announcement 25 is played to the caller. After a further delay of 20 seconds, an announcement 26 is played to the caller. If the caller then abandons the call, the CPU 116 generates data indicating that the call has been abandoned. After a predetermined time, this "abandoned" data is then transmitted to and stored in the data computer 108.
- the operator 306 of the system 100 may want to determine how many of the callers actually heard the announcement 25. With the above vector, however, the operator 306 cannot obtain this information. Callers who abandoned the call before hearing the announcement 25, callers who heard only the announcement 25 and callers who heard both the announcement 25 and the announcement 26 are all considered "abandoned" and thereby rendered indistinguishable from one another.
- the operator 306 is able to obtain this information by adding data elements for which the CPU 116 obtains data.
- the timeline 402 illustrates modification of the above vector to record which callers actually heard the announcement 25.
- An exemplary vector for a portion of the timeline 402 is set forth below. 10 START TONE RINGBACK 20 QUEUE AGENT GROUP 1 30 DELAY 5 SECONDS 40 PLAY ANNOUNCEMENT 25 45 LOG count1 50 DELAY 20 SECONDS 60 PLAY ANNOUNCEMENT 26 70 GOTO 50
- line 45 has been added to the vector by the operator 306 by means of the computer terminal 120 in accordance with the present invention so that the CPU 116 will obtain data representative of callers who hear the announcement 25.
- An incoming telephone call is queued to the agent group 1 which is detected and recorded by the CPU 116. If an agent does not handle the call after a 5 second delay, the announcement 25 is played to the caller. After playing the announcement 25, the CPU 116 increments the variable count1 to indicate that the caller heard the announcement 25. The data relating to the variable count1 is then stored in the database 302 for later retrieval by the operator 306. The operator 306 is thereby able to determine how many callers heard the announcement 25. It should be understood that the present invention may be advantageously employed to provide a record of any number of data elements which may occur during routing of a telephone call in the ACD system 100.
- callers who receive a "center closed” announcement after hours are typically logged as "abandoned” since they were never connected to an agent.
- callers who have recorded a voice mail message for later call back are typically logged as "abandoned”.
- an operator may want those calls to be logged as "handled”. This is readily accomplished in the present invention by modification of the appropriate vector via the computer terminal 120 and then adding these new counts to the equation for "calls handled" used when formatting and printing reports.
- the automatic call distributor 102 may have design configurations which depart from those described herein.
Landscapes
- Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
- Marketing (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Signal Processing (AREA)
- Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)
Abstract
Description
- The present invention relates generally to an automatic call distribution system and, more particularly, to an automatic call distribution system and method wherein the user has the ability to define and modify the logging of operating data of the ACD system.
- Automatic call distribution (ACD) systeme are increasingly used by businesses to automatically route incoming customer calls to available agents. ACD systems generally include a multiport switch controlled by a central processing unit to interconnect external telephonic units of an external telephonic network with internal telephonic units. An example of such an ACD system is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5,140,611 issued to Jones et al. on August 18, 1992, entitled "Pulse Modulated Self-Clocking and Self-Synchronizing Data Transmission and Method for a Telephonic Communication Switching System".
- ACD systems provide for acquiring, processing and reporting information concerning different aspects of activity within the system. Typically, a data display terminal generates visual representations of the information. Based on this information, management and supervisory personnel are able to evaluate the call activity within the automatic call distributor and, if necessary, make changes for more efficient ACD system operation.
- Data is collected on each incoming call offered to the ACD system. This data consists of a log of events occurring in the ACD system over time for an incoming call. Typical logged data elements are receipt of call, call offered to an application, call presented to an agent group and call handled or abandoned. The data representing these data elements is then processed to generate reports for use by management or supervisory personnel. The data may be organized in any number of ways, such as by agent, telephone trunk, agent groups and the like.
- In these prior ACD systems, the manufacturer of the ACD system preselects the logged data elements. The user of the ACD system is thereafter unable to add additional logged data elements. This is unfortunate since the user may desire to add one or more data elements for certain situations unique to their configuration. For example, in most ACD systems, an incoming telephone call is not considered "handled" until the call is actually connected to an agent. In some circumstances, however, a user may want to consider a call "handled" when the caller has heard a key announcement, such as a "center closed" announcement, or has left a voice mail message. With prior ACD systems, these, instances would not be reported as "handled" calls.
- It is thus apparent that a need exists for an automatic call distribution system and method wherein the user is able to add data elements for which data is logged.
- This need is met by the automatic call distribution system and method of the present invention wherein an operator has the capability of adding one or more data elements for which data is acquired.
- In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, an automatic call distribution system for routing incoming telephone calls from external callers to a plurality of agents comprises an automatic call distributor for interconnecting the incoming telephone calls to the agents and for acquiring data ate specified points during each of the incoming telephone calls. An operator of the system selectively adds data elements for which the automatic call distributor acquires data through a computer terminal. The collected data may be stored and displayed on a display unit of a data computer. In addition, the data may be displayed on a terminal display unit at the computer terminal. A printout of the data may also be obtained from a printer connected to the data computer.
- In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an automatic call distribution system is provided for routing incoming telephone calls. The automatic call distribution system comprises a plurality of agent groups each of which is comprised of at least one agent for receiving the incoming telephone calls and a multiport switch for interconnecting the incoming telephone calls and the agent groups. A central processing unit controls the multiport switch to connect each of the incoming telephone calls to a selected one of the agent groups and acquires data at specified points during each of the incoming telephone calls. An operator of the system selectively adds data elements for which the central processing unit acquires data by means of a computer terminal. A data computer connected to the central processing unit includes a data display unit for displaying at least a portion of the data and a data input device for selectively formatting the data for display on the data display unit.
- In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for procuring data in an automatic call distribution system is provided. The method comprising the steps of: receiving a plurality of incoming telephone calls from external callers at the automatic call distribution system, the automatic call distribution system including a multiport switch; routing the plurality of incoming telephone calls through the multiport switch to a plurality of agents; selectively defining data elements which may occur during the routing of each of the incoming telephone calls in the automatic call distribution system; and acquiring data associated with the selectively defined data elements for each of the incoming telephone calls.
- These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.
-
- Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary automatic call distribution system connected to external telephonic units via an external telephonic network in accordance with the present invention;
- Fig. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary routing scheme which may be implemented in the automatic call distribution System shown in Fig. 1;
- Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the interrelationship between various computer programs in the automatic call distribution system shown in Fig. 1; and
- Fig. 4 is a pair of timelines illustrating exemplary data elements which may be logged during routing of an incoming telephone call in the automatic call distribution system shown in Fig. 1.
- An automatic call distribution (ACD)
system 100 in accordance with the present invention comprises anautomatic call distributor 102 for routing incoming telephone calls received from externaltelephonic units 104 via an externaltelephonic network 106 to a plurality of agenttelephonic units 107. As will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, theautomatic call distributor 102 may be any of a number of different call switching systems, or devices. - The
automatic call distributor 102 is connected to adata computer 108 comprising adata display unit 109, such as a conventional CRT, coupled to adata input device 110. Thedata computer 108 stores the data acquired by theautomatic call distributor 102, selectively formats the data and displays the data received from theautomatic call distributor 102 on the data display unit. Thedata input device 110 may comprise a conventional keyboard and a microprocessor-based computer circuit. Aconventional printer 112 connected to thedata computer 108 generates printed records of data received from theautomatic call distributor 102. - Specifically, the
automatic call distributor 102 has amultiport switch 114 for routing incoming telephone calls to selected ones of the agenttelephonic units 107. Themultiport switch 114 is controlled by a central processing unit (CPU) 116, or a suitable computer, having amemory 118 for processing data related to incoming telephone calls. TheCPU 116 is appropriately programmed to route incoming telephone calls through the ACDsystem 100. Preferably, the processing power of theCPU 116 is provided by a 32 bit Motorola 68030 microprocessor. - An operator of the
ACD system 100 adds additional data elements for which theCPU 116 collects data through one ormore computer terminals 120. Thecomputer terminal 120 includes a conventionalterminal display unit 122, such as a CRT, and aterminal input device 124. To add additional data elements, the operator modifies the computer program implemented by theCPU 116 via theterminal input device 124, as discussed more fully below. It should be understood that the operator can also access the data stored in the data computer through thecomputer terminal 120. - A
data interface 126 provides communications between theCPU 116, thedata computer 108 and thecomputer terminal 120. As will be readily apparent, the structure and philosophy of the components of the ACDsystem 100 are well known in the art and will not be further discussed herein. Further, other configurations of theautomatic call distributor 102 can be advantageously employed in the present invention. - A block diagram illustrating an exemplary routing scheme in the
automatic call distributor 102 is shown in Fig. 2. Incoming telephone calls are received from the externaltelephonic network 106 overtelephone trunks 200 which are grouped into trunk groups 1-S routing vector 202, or telescript, receives incoming telephone calls from thetrunk groups routing vector 202 routes each of the external telephone calls to a selected one of applications 1-N applications N - For purposes of the present invention, a vector is one or more user defined statements or instructions in a computer program stored in the
memory 118 and executed by theCPU 116 for routing incoming telephone calls.Application vectors applications N agents 1 through N. As is well known in the art, the call may be routed based on information supplied by the externaltelephonic network 106, such as a Dialed Number Identification Service which identifies the called number, or an Automatic Number Identification. The mechanisms for routing calls in an ACD system are well known in the art and will therefore not be further discussed herein. - The relationship between the computer programs executed by the
ACD system 100 to record data at specified points during the routing of each of the incoming telephone calls to provide an indication of the operation of theACD system 100 is shown in Fig. 3. Amain program 300, which is typically implemented in the C programming language, acquires information, or data, relating to specific events occurring in theautomatic call distributor 102 for each incoming telephone call. A data element may be a count of call offered to an application, call offered to an agent group, call handled or abandoned and the like. In current telephone switching systems, the operator is unable to add additional data elements for which themain program 300 collects data. The present invention provides an operator with the flexibility to add data elements for which themain program 300 collects data. - At periodic intervals, the
main program 300 downloads collected data to adatabase 302. Adata interface program 304 formats data transferred between themain program 300 and thedatabase 302. Theoperator 306 can organize and format the data via adisplay program 308 for display either on theterminal display unit 122 or thedata display unit 109. - Instructions from the
operator 306 are provided to thedisplay program 308 through anoperator interface 310. With the present invention, theoperator 306 has the capability to add data elements for which theCPU 116 obtains information. Theoperator 306 adds data elements by modifying themain program 300 via thecomputer terminal 120. - A pair of
exemplary timelines timelines trunk seizure 404, offered to theapplication 406, queued toagent group 1 408 and call handled or abandoned 410) are recorded for each incoming telephone call. An application vector, or telescript, which is stored in thememory 118 and executed by theCPU 116, for a portion of thetimeline 400 is set forth below.
10 START TONE RINGBACK
20QUEUE AGENT GROUP 1
30 DELAY 5 SECONDS
40 PLAY ANNOUNCEMENT 25
50 DELAY 20 SECONDS
60 PLAY ANNOUNCEMENT 26
70 GOTO 50
In accordance with the above vector, an incoming telephone call is queued toagent group 1. TheCPU 116 detects that the telephone call has been queued toagent group 1 and generates data representative thereof. After a 5 second delay, if an agent does not answer the call, an announcement 25 is played to the caller. After a further delay of 20 seconds, an announcement 26 is played to the caller. If the caller then abandons the call, theCPU 116 generates data indicating that the call has been abandoned. After a predetermined time, this "abandoned" data is then transmitted to and stored in thedata computer 108. - Unfortunately, the
operator 306 of thesystem 100 may want to determine how many of the callers actually heard the announcement 25. With the above vector, however, theoperator 306 cannot obtain this information. Callers who abandoned the call before hearing the announcement 25, callers who heard only the announcement 25 and callers who heard both the announcement 25 and the announcement 26 are all considered "abandoned" and thereby rendered indistinguishable from one another. - In the present invention, the
operator 306 is able to obtain this information by adding data elements for which theCPU 116 obtains data. For example, thetimeline 402 illustrates modification of the above vector to record which callers actually heard the announcement 25. An exemplary vector for a portion of thetimeline 402 is set forth below.
10 START TONE RINGBACK
20QUEUE AGENT GROUP 1
30 DELAY 5 SECONDS
40 PLAY ANNOUNCEMENT 25
45 LOG count1
50 DELAY 20 SECONDS
60 PLAY ANNOUNCEMENT 26
70 GOTO 50
As is apparent, line 45 has been added to the vector by theoperator 306 by means of thecomputer terminal 120 in accordance with the present invention so that theCPU 116 will obtain data representative of callers who hear the announcement 25. An incoming telephone call is queued to theagent group 1 which is detected and recorded by theCPU 116. If an agent does not handle the call after a 5 second delay, the announcement 25 is played to the caller. After playing the announcement 25, theCPU 116 increments the variable count1 to indicate that the caller heard the announcement 25. The data relating to the variable count1 is then stored in thedatabase 302 for later retrieval by theoperator 306. Theoperator 306 is thereby able to determine how many callers heard the announcement 25. It should be understood that the present invention may be advantageously employed to provide a record of any number of data elements which may occur during routing of a telephone call in theACD system 100. - For example, callers who receive a "center closed" announcement after hours are typically logged as "abandoned" since they were never connected to an agent. Similarly, callers who have recorded a voice mail message for later call back are typically logged as "abandoned". In both instances, an operator may want those calls to be logged as "handled". This is readily accomplished in the present invention by modification of the appropriate vector via the
computer terminal 120 and then adding these new counts to the equation for "calls handled" used when formatting and printing reports. - Having thus described the invention in detail by way of reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that other modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims. For example, the
automatic call distributor 102 may have design configurations which depart from those described herein.
Claims (17)
- An automatic call distribution system for routing incoming telephone calls from external callers to a plurality of agents comprising:
an automatic call distributor for interconnecting the incoming telephone calls to the agents and for collecting data at specified points during each of the incoming telephone calls; and
a computer terminal connected to the automatic call distributor for selectively adding data elements for which the automatic call distributor acquires data. - The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 1 wherein the automatic call distributor comprises a multiport switch for interconnecting the incoming telephone calls and the agents.
- The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 2 wherein the automatic call distributor comprises a central processing unit for controlling the multiport switch to connect each of the incoming telephone calls to a selected one of the agents and for acquiring data at the specific points during each of the incoming telephone calls.
- The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 1 wherein the computer terminal comprises a terminal display unit connected to the automatic call distributor for displaying at least a portion of the data acquired by the central processing unit.
- The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 1 comprising a data computer connected to the central processing unit for storing the data acquired by the central processing unit, for selectively formatting the data and for displaying the data.
- The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 5 comprising printer means connected to the data computer for generating a printed record of at least a portion of the data.
- The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 5 wherein the automatic call distributor comprises a data interface for providing communications between the data computer, the computer terminal and the automatic call distributor.
- The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 1 wherein the computer terminal comprises:
a terminal display unit for displaying at least a portion of the data; and
a terminal input device for sending information to the automatic call distributor selectively adding data elements for which the automatic call distributor acquires data. - An automatic call distribution system for routing incoming telephone calls comprising:
a plurality of agent groups each of which is comprised of at least one agent for receiving the incoming telephone calls;
a multiport switch for interconnecting the incoming telephone calls and the agent groups;
a central processing unit for controlling the multiport switch to connect each of the incoming telephone calls to a selected one of the agent groups and for acquiring data at specified points during each of the incoming telephone calls; and
a computer terminal connected to the central processing unit for selectively defining data elements for which the central processing unit acquires data, the computer terminal including,
a terminal display unit for displaying at least a portion of the data, and
a terminal input device for sending instructions to the central processing unit selectively adding data elements for which the central processing unit acquires data. - The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 9 comprising a data computer for storing the data acquired by the central processing unit, for selectively formatting the data and for displaying the data.
- The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 10 comprising printer means connected to the data computer for generating a printed record of at least a portion of the data.
- The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 10 comprising a data interface interposed between the data computer, the computer terminal and the central processing unit for providing communications therebetween.
- A method for procuring data in an automatic call distribution system comprising the steps of:
receiving a plurality of incoming telephone calls from external callers at the automatic call distribution system, the automatic call distribution system including a multiport switch;
routing the plurality of incoming telephone calls through the multiport switch to a plurality of agents;
selectively defining at least one data element at specified points which may occur during the routing of each of the incoming telephone calls in the automatic call distribution system; and
acquiring data associated with the at least one data element for the incoming telephone calls. - The method as recited in claim 13 comprising the step of displaying the data.
- The method as recited in claim 14 wherein the step of displaying the data comprises the step of printing a record of the data.
- The method as recited in claim 14 wherein the step of displaying the data comprises the step of providing a visual representation of the data.
- The method as recited in claim 16 wherein the step of displaying the data comprises the steps of:
storing the data in at least one database; and
selectively displaying data from the at least one database.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US311636 | 1994-09-23 | ||
US08/311,636 US5715306A (en) | 1994-09-23 | 1994-09-23 | Automatic call distribution system with user definable logging and method therefor |
Publications (3)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
EP0707405A2 true EP0707405A2 (en) | 1996-04-17 |
EP0707405A3 EP0707405A3 (en) | 1996-04-24 |
EP0707405B1 EP0707405B1 (en) | 2004-05-26 |
Family
ID=23207791
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP95114980A Expired - Lifetime EP0707405B1 (en) | 1994-09-23 | 1995-09-22 | Automatic call distribution system with user definable logging and method therefor |
Country Status (3)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (1) | US5715306A (en) |
EP (1) | EP0707405B1 (en) |
DE (1) | DE69533081D1 (en) |
Cited By (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
KR100354807B1 (en) * | 2000-05-16 | 2002-10-05 | 주식회사 한국밴통신 | A telegate, a computer telephony integration system based on the telegate and methods for processing incoming call and outgoing call by using the telegate |
Families Citing this family (37)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5857018A (en) * | 1992-08-11 | 1999-01-05 | Rockwell International Corp. | Automatic call distributor with prioritization |
US5940494A (en) * | 1995-07-12 | 1999-08-17 | Rafacz; Walter | Data display system and method for displaying real-time data relating to an automatic call distributor |
US9134398B2 (en) | 1996-09-09 | 2015-09-15 | Tracbeam Llc | Wireless location using network centric location estimators |
US6236365B1 (en) | 1996-09-09 | 2001-05-22 | Tracbeam, Llc | Location of a mobile station using a plurality of commercial wireless infrastructures |
GB2337386B (en) * | 1996-09-09 | 2001-04-04 | Dennis J Dupray | Location of a mobile station |
US6104802A (en) | 1997-02-10 | 2000-08-15 | Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. | In-band signaling for routing |
US5953405A (en) * | 1997-02-10 | 1999-09-14 | Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. | Agent-predictive routing process in call-routing systems |
US7031442B1 (en) | 1997-02-10 | 2006-04-18 | Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. | Methods and apparatus for personal routing in computer-simulated telephony |
US6480600B1 (en) | 1997-02-10 | 2002-11-12 | Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. | Call and data correspondence in a call-in center employing virtual restructuring for computer telephony integrated functionality |
US6711611B2 (en) | 1998-09-11 | 2004-03-23 | Genesis Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. | Method and apparatus for data-linking a mobile knowledge worker to home communication-center infrastructure |
US6985943B2 (en) | 1998-09-11 | 2006-01-10 | Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. | Method and apparatus for extended management of state and interaction of a remote knowledge worker from a contact center |
USRE46528E1 (en) | 1997-11-14 | 2017-08-29 | Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. | Implementation of call-center outbound dialing capability at a telephony network level |
FI106351B (en) * | 1998-01-27 | 2001-01-15 | Nokia Networks Oy | Procedure for playing messages in a switch for a telecommunications network |
US7907598B2 (en) | 1998-02-17 | 2011-03-15 | Genesys Telecommunication Laboratories, Inc. | Method for implementing and executing communication center routing strategies represented in extensible markup language |
US6332154B2 (en) | 1998-09-11 | 2001-12-18 | Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. | Method and apparatus for providing media-independent self-help modules within a multimedia communication-center customer interface |
US6785710B2 (en) * | 1998-06-22 | 2004-08-31 | Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. | E-mail client with programmable address attributes |
US6633539B1 (en) * | 1998-08-28 | 2003-10-14 | Cisco Technology, Inc. | Device, method and article of manufacture for call setup pacing in connection-oriented networks |
USRE46153E1 (en) | 1998-09-11 | 2016-09-20 | Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. | Method and apparatus enabling voice-based management of state and interaction of a remote knowledge worker in a contact center environment |
US8135413B2 (en) * | 1998-11-24 | 2012-03-13 | Tracbeam Llc | Platform and applications for wireless location and other complex services |
US6320956B1 (en) * | 1999-01-25 | 2001-11-20 | Willow Csn, Inc. | Multiple client remote agent network method |
US7929978B2 (en) | 1999-12-01 | 2011-04-19 | Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. | Method and apparatus for providing enhanced communication capability for mobile devices on a virtual private network |
WO2001054388A1 (en) | 2000-01-07 | 2001-07-26 | Ineto, Inc. | Customer communication service system |
US9875492B2 (en) | 2001-05-22 | 2018-01-23 | Dennis J. Dupray | Real estate transaction system |
US10641861B2 (en) | 2000-06-02 | 2020-05-05 | Dennis J. Dupray | Services and applications for a communications network |
US10684350B2 (en) | 2000-06-02 | 2020-06-16 | Tracbeam Llc | Services and applications for a communications network |
US6665393B1 (en) | 2000-06-16 | 2003-12-16 | Cisco Technology, Inc. | Call routing control using call routing scripts |
US6807269B1 (en) | 2000-07-20 | 2004-10-19 | Cisco Technology, Inc. | Call management implemented using call routing engine |
US6819754B1 (en) | 2000-08-29 | 2004-11-16 | Cisco Technology, Inc. | Generation of communication system control scripts |
US6970554B1 (en) * | 2001-03-05 | 2005-11-29 | Verizon Corporate Services Group Inc. | System and method for observing calls to a call center |
US6904143B1 (en) * | 2001-03-05 | 2005-06-07 | Verizon Corporate Services Group Inc. | Apparatus and method for logging events that occur when interacting with an automated call center system |
US6868153B2 (en) * | 2002-03-12 | 2005-03-15 | Rockwell Electronic Commerce Technologies, Llc | Customer touch-point scoring system |
US8170197B2 (en) * | 2002-03-15 | 2012-05-01 | Intellisist, Inc. | System and method for providing automated call center post-call processing |
US8068595B2 (en) | 2002-03-15 | 2011-11-29 | Intellisist, Inc. | System and method for providing a multi-modal communications infrastructure for automated call center operation |
US7292689B2 (en) | 2002-03-15 | 2007-11-06 | Intellisist, Inc. | System and method for providing a message-based communications infrastructure for automated call center operation |
US7542561B1 (en) | 2004-02-10 | 2009-06-02 | Cisco Technology, Inc. | Method and system for queuing calls based on call time commitment |
US9008075B2 (en) | 2005-12-22 | 2015-04-14 | Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. | System and methods for improving interaction routing performance |
US9538493B2 (en) | 2010-08-23 | 2017-01-03 | Finetrak, Llc | Locating a mobile station and applications therefor |
Citations (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
EP0429770A2 (en) * | 1989-11-27 | 1991-06-05 | Teloquent Communications Corporation | Switchless automatic call distribution system |
US5140611A (en) * | 1989-09-29 | 1992-08-18 | Rockwell International Corporation | Pulse width modulated self-clocking and self-synchronizing data transmission and method for a telephonic communication network switching system |
US5271058A (en) * | 1989-11-27 | 1993-12-14 | Unifi Communications Corporation | Switchless automatic call distribution system used with a combination of networks |
WO1994009585A1 (en) * | 1992-10-21 | 1994-04-28 | Digital Systems International, Inc. | Integrated intelligent call blending |
US5400327A (en) * | 1993-09-30 | 1995-03-21 | Rockwell International Corporation | Automatic call distributor with wireless connection with remote unit and method |
Family Cites Families (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4788718A (en) * | 1987-10-05 | 1988-11-29 | American Telephone And Telegraph Company, At & T Laboratories | Call data collection and modification of received call distribution |
US4893325A (en) * | 1988-09-23 | 1990-01-09 | Rockwell International Corporation | Integrated public safety answering point system |
US5109399A (en) * | 1989-08-18 | 1992-04-28 | Alamo City Technologies, Inc. | Emergency call locating system |
US5249223A (en) * | 1991-01-03 | 1993-09-28 | At&T Bell Laboratories | Call-load-control arrangement for an emergency-call-answering center |
-
1994
- 1994-09-23 US US08/311,636 patent/US5715306A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
1995
- 1995-09-22 EP EP95114980A patent/EP0707405B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-09-22 DE DE69533081T patent/DE69533081D1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
Patent Citations (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5140611A (en) * | 1989-09-29 | 1992-08-18 | Rockwell International Corporation | Pulse width modulated self-clocking and self-synchronizing data transmission and method for a telephonic communication network switching system |
EP0429770A2 (en) * | 1989-11-27 | 1991-06-05 | Teloquent Communications Corporation | Switchless automatic call distribution system |
US5271058A (en) * | 1989-11-27 | 1993-12-14 | Unifi Communications Corporation | Switchless automatic call distribution system used with a combination of networks |
WO1994009585A1 (en) * | 1992-10-21 | 1994-04-28 | Digital Systems International, Inc. | Integrated intelligent call blending |
US5400327A (en) * | 1993-09-30 | 1995-03-21 | Rockwell International Corporation | Automatic call distributor with wireless connection with remote unit and method |
Cited By (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
KR100354807B1 (en) * | 2000-05-16 | 2002-10-05 | 주식회사 한국밴통신 | A telegate, a computer telephony integration system based on the telegate and methods for processing incoming call and outgoing call by using the telegate |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
EP0707405A3 (en) | 1996-04-24 |
US5715306A (en) | 1998-02-03 |
DE69533081D1 (en) | 2004-07-01 |
EP0707405B1 (en) | 2004-05-26 |
Similar Documents
Publication | Publication Date | Title |
---|---|---|
US5715306A (en) | Automatic call distribution system with user definable logging and method therefor | |
US5790635A (en) | System and method for automatic monitoring of active telephone calls in a telephonic switch | |
US5815566A (en) | Apparatus and method for dynamic inbound/outbound call management and for scheduling appointments | |
US5778060A (en) | Work at home ACD agent network with cooperative control | |
US6882724B2 (en) | System and method for providing call statistics in real time | |
US4800583A (en) | Overflow call handling system | |
US5903877A (en) | Transaction center for processing customer transaction requests from alternative media sources | |
US4881261A (en) | Method for predictive pacing of calls in a calling system | |
US6041114A (en) | Telecommute server | |
US5555297A (en) | Automatic call distributor reporting system and method therefor | |
US5450488A (en) | Multiple service voice messaging system | |
EP0437256A2 (en) | Automatic number identification blocking system | |
CA2314378C (en) | Modification of voice prompting based on prior communication in a call center | |
EP0753956A2 (en) | Telephone switching system, automatic call distributor and method using a computer network to connect to remote agent computer terminals | |
EP0376526A2 (en) | Telephone agent management information system | |
WO1998035507A2 (en) | Method and apparatus for priority queuing of telephone calls | |
JPH0690284A (en) | Method and system for monitoring of usage of telephone | |
CA2404993A1 (en) | System and method for notification upon successful message delivery | |
WO1998015107A1 (en) | System and method for modeling and modifying a telephone call path routed by a telephonic switch | |
EP0587629B1 (en) | Voice services equipment | |
EP0793374B1 (en) | Video switching system video communications system and method for automatically establishing video communications using a telephonic switch | |
CA2171937C (en) | Apparatus and method for dynamic inbound/outbound call management and for scheduling appointments | |
EP0766444A2 (en) | Service evaluation system and method for a telephonic switch | |
US5854837A (en) | Method and system for providing interactive data exchange between an interactive platform and a caller | |
EP0470415B1 (en) | Call tagging user information in a telephonic environment |
Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
PUAI | Public reference made under article 153(3) epc to a published international application that has entered the european phase |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009012 |
|
PUAL | Search report despatched |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009013 |
|
AK | Designated contracting states |
Kind code of ref document: A2 Designated state(s): DE FR GB |
|
AK | Designated contracting states |
Kind code of ref document: A3 Designated state(s): DE FR GB |
|
17P | Request for examination filed |
Effective date: 19961017 |
|
17Q | First examination report despatched |
Effective date: 20010525 |
|
GRAP | Despatch of communication of intention to grant a patent |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: EPIDOSNIGR1 |
|
RIC1 | Information provided on ipc code assigned before grant |
Ipc: 7H 04M 3/42 B Ipc: 7H 04M 3/523 A |
|
GRAA | (expected) grant |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009210 |
|
GRAS | Grant fee paid |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: EPIDOSNIGR3 |
|
AK | Designated contracting states |
Kind code of ref document: B1 Designated state(s): DE FR GB |
|
PG25 | Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo] |
Ref country code: FR Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF NON-PAYMENT OF DUE FEES Effective date: 20040526 |
|
REG | Reference to a national code |
Ref country code: GB Ref legal event code: FG4D |
|
REF | Corresponds to: |
Ref document number: 69533081 Country of ref document: DE Date of ref document: 20040701 Kind code of ref document: P |
|
PG25 | Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo] |
Ref country code: DE Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT Effective date: 20040827 |
|
REG | Reference to a national code |
Ref country code: GB Ref legal event code: 732E |
|
PLBE | No opposition filed within time limit |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009261 |
|
STAA | Information on the status of an ep patent application or granted ep patent |
Free format text: STATUS: NO OPPOSITION FILED WITHIN TIME LIMIT |
|
26N | No opposition filed |
Effective date: 20050301 |
|
EN | Fr: translation not filed | ||
REG | Reference to a national code |
Ref country code: GB Ref legal event code: 732E |
|
PGFP | Annual fee paid to national office [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo] |
Ref country code: GB Payment date: 20080929 Year of fee payment: 14 |
|
GBPC | Gb: european patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee |
Effective date: 20090922 |
|
PG25 | Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo] |
Ref country code: GB Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF NON-PAYMENT OF DUE FEES Effective date: 20090922 |